Ghost Dances

Question 1

When was Ghost Dances?

Answer 1

1981

Question 2

Who choreographed it?

Answer 2

Christopher Bruce

Question 3

Music?

Answer 3

South American folk music

Question 4

Set design?

Answer 4

Christopher Bruce. A single set is used for the production; painted backcloth to depict an arid landscape with clear sky, which appears to be the view from the mouth of a cave. Dark mouth of the cave looks over a barren rocky plain to mountain peaks. Onstage are 7 rock structures at the back and side of the stage, which provide changes in levels for the dancers.

Question 5

Lighting?

Answer 5

Nick Chelton

Question 6

Running time and cast?

Answer 6

30 mins, 11 dancers (5 female, 6 male)

Question 7

A quote from Bruce

Answer 7

“I made this ballet for the innocent people of South America, who from the time of the Spanish conquests have been continuously devastated by political oppression.”
Ghost Dances makes a powerful political statement. Although the social message is important, it is not emphasised at the expense of theatricality.

Question 8

How did Bruce describe the three ghosts?

Answer 8

“Hung around for millions of years, and lying on rocks, like… animals. They had become birds and lizards as well as men.”

Question 9

How did Bruce describe the dead?

Answer 9

“On their way to heaven or hell, wandering from life to death.” The clothes worn by the dead suggest a variety of social backgrounds.

Question 10

Structure?

Answer 10

Episodic

Question 11

Villagers motif

Answer 11

They drop into a weighty squat (example of Graham technique) in a wide second position, throwing their arms forwards with urgency and dropping their heads forwards. They then do a balancé movement (Bruce’s background in ballet) and sharply dig the right foot and invert the knee. The low level this motif is performed on amplifies their oppression and helpless in the face of a dictatorship.

Question 12

Line motif

Answer 12

Stood in a horizontal line stretching from SL to SR, four dancers slowly raise their arms in a parallel second position with a feeling of resistance, and place their hands onto the dancers’ closest to them’s shoulders. In unison, they sharply turn their heads and feet to face SR, and plié with their legs parallel, before sharply changing direction again to face SL. They transfer their weight forwards so they are kneeling, and in a canon, they lunge onto their right leg and roll towards SL.

Question 13

Costume?

Answer 13

Designed by Belinda Scarlett. The ghosts wear body paint and rags, with Ghost masks and long, matted hair.